Oleksiak's goal helps Penguins defeat Stars

Pittsburgh, which rebounded from a 5-2 loss at Toronto one night earlier, jumped past Washington for first place in a tight Metropolitan Division.

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH — Jamie Oleksiak scored a goal against his former team to help the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Dallas Stars 3-1 on Sunday night.

Oleksiak scored his fifth of the season, while Evgeni Malkin got his 39th and added an assist. Patric Hornqvist scored a power-play goal, his 20th, to help the Penguins win for the fourth in five games.

Malkin, now with 919 points, moved past Pavel Datsyuk for fifth on the NHL's all-time points list among Russian-born players. He also equaled a season-high six-game points streak.

Pittsburgh, which rebounded from a 5-2 loss at Toronto one night earlier, jumped past Washington for first place in a tight Metropolitan Division. The Penguins, who lost six of their previous seven against Dallas, have won 14 of their last 15 overall at home.

Casey DeSmith made 17 saves for the Penguins with starter Matt Murray out for his seventh game with a concussion.

Alexander Radulov scored a power-play goal, his 25th of the season, for the Stars, who started a critical late-season stretch of six road games in 10 days with a loss against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions. Dallas, the first wild card in the Western Conference, is 14-15-3 on the road and has just two wins in its last six games.

Kari Lehtonen, making his third straight start, stopped 27 shots.

Hornqvist opened the scoring with a first-period power-play goal. The final pick of the 2005 NHL Draft, he has scored at least 20 goals in eight of 10 NHL seasons, including the last five. The Penguins had two goals in their last 18 power-play chances prior to Hornqvist's goal.

Oleksiak gave Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead with 3.7 seconds left in the first. The Stars drafted Oleksiak in the first round of the 2011 NHL Draft and Pittsburgh acquired the 6-foot-7, 25-year-old defenseman from Dallas on Dec. 19 for a 2019 conditional fourth-round draft pick.

Radulov scored a second-period power-play goal on a five-on-three for the Stars' first goal.

Hornqvist thought he had his second power-play goal of the game, and a 3-1 lead for Pittsburgh later in the period. But the Stars challenged the play and the goal was overturned because Malkin went offside earlier in the sequence.

NOTES: Stars G Ben Bishop missed his third game with a knee injury. He is expected to skate with equipment Monday after skating without pads Sunday morning. ... Pittsburgh scratched F Dominik Simon (lower-body), F Bryan Rust (concussion), F Zach Aston-Reese (upper body) and D Matt Hunwick. ... Marc Methot (knee) and Mattias Janmark (illness) both played for Dallas after missing Friday's game against Anaheim. ... Stars F Antoine Roussel played in his 400th career NHL game. He is the first in NHL history from France to play in 400 games.

UP NEXT

Stars: Continue a six-game road trip Tuesday at Montreal

Penguins: Open a three-game road trip at the New York Rangers on Wednesday

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